Blog : Mother's Care

Morjena Akter has been living in Dhaka with her husband and children for the last five years. She moved to Dhaka because she was in need of work and now she and her husband work at the same factory. She is a peer health educator (PHE) and has completed three trainings of the HERhealth project.  She has already disseminated all the things she has learned to the female workers of her line.

Last month, while visiting her village, she got to that know her sister-in-law was six months pregnant and had not yet consulted any doctor. She thought this was very risky and discussed this matter with both her brother and sister-in-law and made them understand how important it is to consult a doctor at this period. She let them know of the five danger signs during pregnancy and that if an expecting mother does not visit a doctor she might fall victim to any of these five dangers. On the next day, she took both the expecting parents to the nearest hospital. After visiting the doctor and doing some tests, it was discovered that the baby was not in the correct position, so the doctor advised them to see a doctor every month and also that the baby should be delivered in a hospital. Now, both the parents are more aware of what they should be doing during this period and they thanked Morjena for her invaluable input to save the expecting mother and child. Morjena shared that she learned all these messages from the HERhealth project trainings in her factory and also that she is a PHE.

Morjena shared, “If I did not participate in training three of the project, I will not have been able to help my sister-in-law in her critical condition. I am glad I could share the messages of the trainings with her and I want to thank the HERhealth team for this initiative.”

Monowara is a 3rd year university student who has been working as a computer operator at Dada (Dhaka) Ltd. for the last four years. She is also a peer health educator of the HERhealth project and has received all the trainings.

Monowara shared the story of her friend Shathi. Before Shathi got married, she would frequently be infected with puss in her small intestine. After her marriage, when she conceived a child, she would often feel cold and have fever. In the eighth month, she experienced labor pain while she was in her village, and had to give birth without an experienced mid-wife. Unfortunately, Shathi’s baby did not survive and died after six hours. She bled a lot after the baby was born. She also had a seizure and fever. Although she was going through so much, none of her family members took her to a doctor and instead blamed her for the incident.

When Monowra went to visit her friend after her misfortune, she witnessed the situation and realized how her friend had been neglected and ignored. Then Monowara, against the wishes of Shathi’s family, took her to consult a doctor. The doctor treated Shathi for three days and diagnosed that Shathi has an infection in her vagina, which he later understood to be the long term effect of Shathi not getting treatment for the puss infection in her small intestine. The doctor informed them that if Shathi had received correct treatment during that time this misfortune would not have occurred. Shathi is getting treatment for her problems and is doing much better than before.

Monowara said that she is glad that she got the opportunity to be a part of the HERhealth project because she learned a lot about maternal health, which later helped her to save her friend. Shathi’s family did not know the importance of taking someone to the hospital if they have an early labor. If Monowara did not visit Shathi when she did, she would not have been able to take her to a doctor and diagnose the real problem and Shathi’s family too would have blamed her for the death of her child instead of understanding that she was ill. They have now realized their mistake and are taking good care of Shathi.